Methods of hydrotreating a liquid stream to remove clogging compounds

Abstract

A method includes producing formation fluid from a subsurface in situ heat treatment process. The formation fluid is separated to produce a liquid stream and a gas stream. At least a portion of the liquid stream is provided to a hydrotreating unit. At least a portion of selected in situ heat treatment clogging compositions in the liquid stream are removed to produce a hydrotreated liquid stream by hydrotreating at least a portion of the liquid stream at conditions sufficient to remove the selected in situ heat treatment clogging compositions.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method, comprising:
 producing formation fluid from a subsurface in situ heat treatment process; 
 separating the formation fluid to produce a liquid stream and a gas stream; 
 providing at least a portion of the liquid stream to a hydrotreating unit; and 
 removing at least a portion of selected in situ heat treatment clogging compositions in the liquid stream to produce a hydrotreated liquid stream by hydrotreating at least a portion of the liquid stream at conditions sufficient to remove the selected in situ heat treatment clogging compositions. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the clogging compositions comprise solids produced as a result of the in situ heat treatment process. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the clogging compositions comprise a mixture of solids and hydrocarbons produced from the in situ heat treatment process. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the clogging compositions comprise olefins and solids produced from the in situ heat treatment process. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the clogging compositions comprise pyrolyzation products produced from in situ pyrolyzation of hydrocarbons. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the clogging compositions are di-olefins and hydrotreating converts at least a portion of the di-olefins to mono-olefins. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein hydrotreating comprises contacting the liquid stream with one or more catalysts in the presence of hydrogen to produce a product suitable for transportation and/or refinery use. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the in situ heat treatment process comprises heating a hydrocarbon containing formation with one or more heat sources. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the formation fluid is selected from a group consisting essentially of mobilized fluids, visbroken fluids, pyrolyzed fluids, and mixtures thereof. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising processing at least a portion of the hydrotreated liquid stream in one or more of the downstream processing units to form one or more crude products. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 10 , wherein at least one of the processing units comprises a fractionation unit. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 10 , wherein at least one of the crude products is a liquid mixture at 25° C. and 0.101 MPa. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 10 , wherein at least one of the crude products is a gaseous mixture at 25° C. and 0.101 MPa. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 10 , wherein at least one of the crude products is a gaseous mixture at 25° C. and 0.101 MPa, and wherein the gaseous mixture comprises hydrocarbons having a carbon number of at least 3. 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 10 , wherein at least one of the crude products comprises diesel. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 10 , wherein at least one of the crude products comprises naphtha. 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 10 , wherein at least one of the crude products comprises vacuum gas oil. 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 10 , wherein at least a portion of one of the crude products is blended with a formation fluid produced from an in situ heat treatment process. 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 10 , wherein the formation comprises oil shale, and wherein at least one of the crude products is blended with a heavy oil/tar sands fluid produced by an in situ heat treatment process. 
     
     
       20. The method of  claim 10 , further comprising blending at least one of the crude products with other components to produce gasoline. 
     
     
       21. The method of  claim 10 , further comprising blending at least one of the crude products with other components to produce transportation fuel. 
     
     
       22. A method of removing clogging compositions, comprising:
 producing formation fluid from a subsurface in situ heat treatment process; 
 separating the formation fluid to produce a liquid stream and a gas stream; 
 providing at least a portion of the liquid stream to a hydrotreating unit; and 
 removing at least a portion of selected in situ heat treatment clogging compositions in the liquid stream by hydrotreating at least a portion of the liquid stream, wherein the clogging compositions comprise di-olefins, and hydrotreating converts at least 50% of the di-olefins to mono-olefins relative to the initial di-olefins content of the liquid stream.